The Democratic Republic of Congo has seen an outbreak of the
deadly Ebola virus over the past few months. The virus has killed 31 people and
as a result, an epidemic has been officially declared because it poses a
significant threat to neighboring major towns. In nearby Uganda, 16 people have
died from a more deadly strain of the virus, but it is not believed that there
is any connection between the two outbreaks. A World Health Organizations
official has stated that, “the situation is very serious and not under
control.” Ebola is believed to come from fruit bats and enters human and
nonhuman hosts after contact with, or consumption of infected animals. It
causes internal and external bleeding by attacking white blood cells and blood
vessels. Ninety percent of those infected will die from the disease and there
is no known treatment or cure. The US Centers for Disease Control categorizes
the Ebola virus as a category A bio terrorism agent because it is so deadly.
Sadly, scientist may never find a cure for this terrible and
devastating virus. The Pentagon has recently suspended funding for two
companies who are working on the vaccine and have leading candidates for the
vaccine. Most of the funding for the vaccine has come from the US Department of
Defense and the National Institutes of Health because they fear the virus could
be used as a biological weapon. The funding has been delayed due to funding constraints
and will cause a major delay in the development of a vaccine. Some have
wondered why big pharmaceutical companies have not shown interest in finding
the vaccine. It is believed that they are not interested because there is not a
huge demand in the market for the vaccine. With a small market and the lethal
and sporadic nature of the virus, a vaccine will not bring big profits for
large pharmaceutical companies. But would that still be the case if the
outbreak continues to spread or the virus is used as a biological weapon?
No comments:
Post a Comment